Apparatus for teaching gun practice.



J. WHITBSIDE. APPARATUS FOR TEACHING GUN PRACTICE. APPLICATION IILEDMAY26, 1904. RENEWED MAR. 26, 1907.

Patented Oct. 5, 1909.

witnesses 1 f6 Jad JAMES WHITESIDE, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

APPARATUS FOR TEACHING GUN PRACTICE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed May 28, 1904, Serial No. 209,877. Renewed March 26,1907. Serial No. 364,579.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, JAMES TNHITESIDE, a subject of the King of England,and a resident of the borough of Manhattan, New York city, and State ofNew York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Apparatusfor Teaching Gun Practice, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to apparatus for teaching gun practice, theessential characteristics of which are a universally jointed gun supportsubject to manipulation by the operator in firing the gun, a pointer inpractical parallelism with the gun and following its deviations, atarget in close proximity to the gun, with its bulls-eye in alinementwith the pointer when the gun is correctly sighted with relation to theobject aimed at, and means to make a record on the target at the instantof firing in the same relation to the bull's-eye the relation of the gunsight to the object aimed at, and thus record the work of the operatorwithout the actual expenditure of ammunition and expense of the same.

My present invention consists of improvements of the apparatus formaking the rec- 0rd, also improvements whereby the construction issimplified, and in the apparatus whereby the operator may take theweight of the gun in his hands while firing to render the practice morelike the actual common practice as hereinafter described and claimedreference being made to the accompanying drawings in which Figure 1, isa side elevation of my improved apparatus with a gun in positionthereon. Fig. 2, is a detail in elevation enlarged and showing atransverse section of the pointer. Fig. 3, is a detail in centralvertical transverse section also enlarged. Fig. 4, is a detail partly incentral vertical transverse section, and partly in elevation and alsoenlarged.

A represents a supporting standard of any approved form and constructionon which a vertically adjustable, and rotatory staff a is supported andis secured in difi'erent positions by the set screw b for adjusting theheight of the apparatus to suit the height of the operator; said staffhas a deep central vertical socket c in the upper end in which a spindle(Z is carried which has the forked upper end 6 in which a horizontal barf is pivoted at 9, said bar having seat pieces it, one near each end inwhich the gun i may rest.

On the upper end of staff a is'a collar 3' which can slide up and downand turn on said staff with a set screw a for fixing it in position andit has a slide-way is in each of two opposite sides wherein lateralsupporting arms Z, carrying seats at at their upper ends for the bar f,are arranged by means of branches n as an adjustable support permittingthe bar f to be tilted slightly on its pivot g with a set screw 0 tosecure them and hold said bar in any desired set position; the bar 7rests in these seats so that it may be lifted slightly for taking theweight of the gun in the hands. A pointer rod 10 is suspended from theunderside of the bar 7 by clips g attached to the bar and holding therod in practically parallel relation to the gun and so that it mayreciprocate slightly. The bar seats at are notched at r for aifordingspace for the rod 29 and for seating said rod in them at s when the baris seated for more stable support of the rod. This pointer rod extends asuitable distance forward under the gun for co-action with a target t torecord by indentations or other marks on the target a visual chartshowing the accuracy or inaccuracy of the aim of the operator. Thepointer has a downward olfset at a enabling the target to be set lowerfor greater clearance from the gun. The target is mounted on the uprightmember 1; of an arm 10 carried on a collar x mounted on staff a, so asto shift up and down, and to rotate thereon for adjustment, with a setscrew 3 for securing it in position, and the said target is adjustablevertically on said member. The collar 1' can turn freely on staff a, anda vertically adjustable collar 2 with a screw 2 for setting it inposition is applied under collar for controlling said position, whichwill preferably be such that spindle cl will rest on the bottom ofsocket 0 when collar j rests on collar The bar f has a hand bearingnotch 3 in its lower side to facilitate grasping it with the handsupporting the barrel of the gun in lifting it for firing; the gun isonly to be lifted sufliciently for transferring the weight of the gunfrom the supporting staff a, and it is desirable not to lift it morethan is necessary, which is prevented by the stop stud 4 set in spindle(Z through a. slot 5 of staff a, the length of which slot controls therange of the lift.

For actuating" the pointer 7 to make the records a hammer lever 6 ispivoted on the bar f at 7, and extended downward a short distance behindthe rear end of the pointer and in close proximity to it with a spring 8connected to it for thrusting it against the end of the pointer whenretracted and released and with a stop 9 to limit the forward thrust ofthe hammer. For retracting the hammer a trigger 10 is pivoted to the barj at 11 behind the hammer to which a hammer retracting latch 12, havinga catch m, adapted to engage the lower end of the hammer lever, ispivoted at 14 with a swinging hanger 15 supporting it so that when thelatch goes forward its bevel catch 912/, will spring under the bevel end01 the ha1nmer and when the latch is swung back on its pivot, to aninclined position it will escape from the catch and strike the pointer;a retracting spring 16 may be employed to detach the pointer from thetarget, and the trigger may have a retracting spring 17 for resettingthe hammer actuating latch.

In the use of the apparatus the gun will first be sighted, while at reston the supports, at some object at a distance the same as if it wereintended that the object should be fired at in the usual way, and theapparatus is then fixed in position by duly setting collar by the setscrew or, and the bar f, by the set screw 0; the target t will then beadjusted so that the bulls-eye registers with the end of the pointer, oras much higher as the gun is to be lifted in firing, and set screws aand 0 are slackened ofi, so that the gun and support are then subject tothe deviating holding of the gun by the operator whereby the targetbeing fixed will show the deviations of the sighting.

The constructions and arrangements of the pointer, hammer and triggerdevices and the means of shifting the weight of the gun from the gunsupport to the hands of the operator may of course be modified invarious ways and I do not limit myself in these respects to theparticular devices herein shown and described.

What I claim as my invention is 1. The combination with a universaljoint supported gun support which is subject to direct manipulations ofthe operator in firing the gun, of a pointer, means connecting the gunsupport andpointer whereby practical parallelism of the pointer with thedeviating line of the gun-sight results from the deviations of the gun,said means consisting of the seat carrying bar, the vertically shiftingand rotating bar supporting spindle having a limited vertical movementwith respect to its support, and the socketed support for said spindle,a substitute target adjustably mounted upon said socketed support inclose proximity to the pointer, means to cause the pointer to make arecord on the target sini'ulta 'ieously with the firing corresponding inits relation to the hullseye with the relation of the line of sight tothe object aimed at, and means for automatically retracting the pointer,substan tially as set forth.

2. The combination with a universal joint supported gun support which issubject to direct manipulation of the operator in firing the gun, of auniversal joint supported pointer, means connecting the gun support andpointer whereby practical parallelism of the pointer with the deviatingline of the gun-sight results from the deviations of the gun, asubstitute target in close proximity to the pointer, and means to thrustthe pointer against the target simultaneously with the firing of the gunto make thereon a record in relation to the bulls-eye mark correspondingwith the relation of the line of the gun-sight at the moment of firingto the object aimed at, said means consisting of the reciprocatingpointer carrying rod, carried on the gun support, hammer lever andspring acting against the end of the rod, and means for retracting andtripping the hammer lever.

3. The combination with a unive'sal joint supported gun support which issubject to direct manipulation of the operator in firing the gun, and apointer carried in parallel relation to the gun support, of a substitutetarget in close proximity to the pointer, and means to cause the pointerto make on said target simultaneously with the firing, a record in therelation to the bulls-eye corresponding with the relation of the line ofthe gun-sight to the object aimed at, said means consisting of the seatcarrying bar, and vertically shifting and rotating bar supportingspindle, the support for said spindle, said means consisting of thereciprocating pointer carrying rod, carried on the gun support, hammerlever and spring acting against the end of the rod, and means forretracting and tripping the hammer lever.

4. In a universal joint supported gun support and a pointer carriedthereon in parallel relation to the gun and subject to the manipulationsof the operator in firing the gun, the combination with the jointmechanism, of the gun seatdevicemounted thereon in a connection enablingthe lifting of the gun in the act of firing and the maintenance at thesame time of said connection for following the deviating movements ofthe gun said means consisting of the gun seat support, spindle carryingsaid gun seat support, socketed support forthe spindle, and means tolimit the rise of the spindle, a substitute target in close proximity tothe pointer and means to cause a record on the target by the pointersimultaneous with the firing said record making means consisting of thereciprocating pointer carrying rod,

carried on the gear support, hammer lever and spring actlng against theend ot the rod, and means for retracting and tripping the hammer lever.

5. The combination With the gun seat carrying bar and the pointercarried thereon, and With the supporting staff, of the bar supportingand tilting arms, grooved rotating collar on the staff receiving thebranches of said arms, the set screws for securing said collar andtilting arms, and the forked spindle carried in the staff socket andhaving the bar pivoted in its fork.

6. The combination With the universal joint supported and verticallyshifting gun support and pointer, and means for actuating the pointerfor record marking, of the substitute target located in close proximityto the pointer and in adjustable relation thereto, and means to limitthe vertical shifting of the said gun support said means con sisting ofthe rotating seat bar supporting spindle, socketed support for thespindle, slot in the socketed support and the stud in the spindle.

Signed at New York this 15th day of May 1904.

JAMES WHITESIDE.

Witnesses:

C. SEDGWICK, J. M. HOWARD.

